Scroobius Pip Talks About Working With Travis Barker And Others on New Album (Interview)
Wednesday, 31 August 2011
Written by Rob Sleigh
It’s been almost a year since Stereoboard last chatted with one half of Brit-hop duo Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip, following the release of the pair’s second album ‘The Logic of Chance’. During that interview (Here), producer and beat-maker Dan le Sac spoke briefly about plans to revisit their former solo careers at some point. Nearly one year on and both parties have recently announced that they will each be releasing their own solo albums in the very near future.
This time around, Stereoboard caught up with Dan’s partner in rhyme Scroobius Pip, whose imminent release ‘Distraction Pieces’ is due out next month. Pip took a short break from his busy schedule to speak to us in detail about working with the likes of Milla Jovovich, Zane Lowe and Blink-182’s Travis Barker on his punk-influenced new album and about his exciting new solo tour in October…
Earlier this month, you posted a new track called ‘Introdiction’ from your new album. It featured some pretty surprising guest appearances. How did those collaborations come about?
It was kind of a weird one. ‘Introdiction’ is produced by Danny Lohner from Nine Inch Nails. I met him through Twitter, basically. He tweeted a few of my lyrics and I hit him up. Then, he got Milla Jovovich to do some backing vocals, because she was working with him on some stuff at the time. She heard my stuff and apparently liked it. Travis Barker was pulled in the same way. He was doing some stuff with Danny and he was feeling it, so it all kind of came together by chance, really.
Did you get to work closely with those artists or was it a case of their parts being recorded elsewhere?
It was all over email. On the whole album, I worked with a lot of different people and, with some of them, it’s been over email and some of them, like Steve Mason from The Beta Band, I went and stayed with him in Scotland for a few days and we worked in the studio together. So it’s good to get those different experiences. Dan le Sac and I have always worked over email, so it wasn’t a great change to do that with Danny Lohner and Zane Lowe, for example.
This is your first solo album since 2006’s ‘No Commercial Breaks’. What was it like to go back to recording as a solo artist after working with Dan the past few years?
Yeah, it’s been a while. It’s been really interesting. My first solo record literally had me and a couple of mates working on it. Originally, that was the plan for this one, but it was actually Liam Howlett [of The Prodigy] who inspired me to get more people working on it. He was going to do a beat for this record, but never got around to it. When I was chatting to him and he offered a beat for it, it made me think: “Yeah, I could hit up a lot of different people.” As long as I’ve got a specific sound that I’m after and I can give a specific framework to work to, then it could be interesting.
Do you think you’ll try and work with Liam at some point in the future?
We’ve been talking about it for years now, back and forth. So yeah, in my mind, it’s always on the table. But it’s a case of schedules and when they actually tie together. Obviously, he’s a busy guy and I don’t sit around much [Laughs].
What was the album like to make compared with the work you’ve done with Dan?
It was really enjoyable. Obviously, I always enjoy making music, but I really enjoyed the level of control I had. On this album, it was my vision that I was working with other people on. Whereas, with me and Dan, it’s very much a joint thing. I wouldn’t tell him how to make the beats or what the beats should sound like and he wouldn’t tell me what to write about. The reason I started making a solo record was because I grew up listening to punk and hardcore and things like that. Dan has never been into that, so I’ve been itching for ages to do something a bit more along those lines. I’m releasing it on my own label as well, so that 100 percent, 360 control has been amazingly stressful, but amazingly exciting as well.
A lot of people will already be familiar with some of your earlier solo work as it was the basis for some of the tracks on ‘Angles’. How does the new album compare with your earlier work and what can your existing fans expect?
The first track ‘Introdiction’ works as exactly that, as an introduction to it. It’s got a lot of similarity. I still write the way I write and I’m still very much about content and interesting wordplay, but it is that bit harder and that bit more aggressive. My first solo record was kind of a jazzy hip-hop type of thing, but it’s not really along those lines. It’s still got all those elements, but it’s harder and more raw. The live show is a perfect example of the differences. It’s with a full band and it illustrates how the sound is slightly different.
Do you think people will be surprised by some of the stuff that’s on the album?
Yeah, I think so. I’ve been really overwhelmed by the reaction to ‘Introdiction’. It is different from what Dan and I do, so I’m fully prepared for some le Sac vs. Pip fans to not like it. It’s not a le Sac vs. Pip record. At the same time, I’ve heard a few people saying that they weren’t previously a fan of what Dan and I do, but they’re feeling this new sound. That’s part of the excitement of it - pushing it in a different direction and seeing how it all goes down.
You’ve become quite well-known now for your socially-conscious lyrics on ‘Angles’ and ‘The Logic of Chance’. Does that theme continue on ‘Distraction Pieces’?
I’ve never set out with any kind of agenda, but that kind of thing tends to come up. I’ve got a song on there that’s about soldiers, for example, and it’s kind of discussing the idea of war and where we are after it. There’s loads of different subjects. I tend to write about what I’m seeing at the time or thinking about at the time. There’s a good variation on there still.
You mentioned a bit about exploring your punk influences on the album. To what depth do you go into that?
Each producer that came in to work on the album, I sent a little disc of sounds that should be influencing it. I sent out some Glassjaw songs, some Minor Threat songs, some Rancid songs and some At The Drive-In songs. I said: “It doesn’t have to sound like this, because it’s still a hip-hop record, but anyone that works on this record should have heard these songs.” It’s more about the grittiness and rawness of a lot of the sounds that are heavily taken from the punk influences.
Is punk something you’ve been involved with before or is it a new experience for you?
That’s it. I grew up in punk bands, playing bass and playing guitar. While me and Dan have been working together, I’ve had a side project called Meet Here Every Tuesday. We’ve not recorded anything, but we’ve been writing a load of quite hardcore punk songs that are definitely not in the hip-hop section of your HMV. I’ve always had those bits there. I kind of got into spoken word because all the little bands I was in started to do my head in – you had to rely on everyone else. The bassist still has to make sure that the drummer can get that afternoon off work or get his kit into the studio. I got into spoken word so that I had something I could do completely off my own back. If it went well, it’s my own fault and if it went bad, it’s my own fault.
Where does the title of the new album come from?
Again, it came from a chat with Liam Howlett… I feel as if I’m name-dropping him now and he’s not even on the record. He was up for it because he was so busy. I’ve learned that when you’ve got a busy schedule of writing, it’s nice to have something to work on outside of that. When he’s making tons of Prodigy beats, it can get overwhelming. I wasn’t after a Prodigy beat, I was after a specific sound. It’s good to have those distraction pieces to motivate you onto working on the other bits.
Dan has a new solo record coming out soon as well. Why did you guys decide to each release some solo work at this point?
It just seemed like the right time to do so. Both of us had solo records out before we started working together and we’ve pretty much been working and writing together for about four or five years now. Bands will often take a year off or whatever so, rather than that, we thought we’d take a little time off from le Sac vs. Pip and go into our own little areas. It’s exciting for both of us to work with different people. Dan’s worked with loads of different vocalists on his record. He’ll get different experiences and learn different ways of doing things. Neither of us have worked with a lot of other people in the past and both of us are still complete amateurs [Laughs]. When we started working together, we had no experience of the music industry. It’s good to spread our wings a little bit and come back with a wider range or approaches and ideas.
Have you had a chance to hear any of Dan’s new album?
No, I’ve not heard any of it. I’ve asked him a couple of times, but he’s not sent anything over yet. His is scheduled to come out next year, so a fair well after mine. That kind of makes sense because we don’t want to clash or split the audience or anything like that. I’m keen to hear it. He’s talked about a couple of the tracks and they sound absolutely amazing.
Have you begun working on the next Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip album yet or is that something you’ll be doing quite soon?
The plan is to start working on it before his record comes out, strangely. His is getting pushed back into the new year a bit now because of the fire at the Sony warehouse, when all the looting and rioting was going on. He should be able to get it finished and have a few spare months after I’ve done my record and the tour. Hopefully, we’ll then have some space to start working.
Do you have any songs written for that already?
I’ve got a few lyrical ideas knocking about and Dan’s got a few beats that he’s working on, but that’s always the case. We’re trying to keep ourselves away from it at the moment, so we can come back with fresh eyes and ears.
You’ve got some solo dates coming up next month as well. For those that have seen you live with Dan, what can we expect from your solo performances?
It’s exciting being on stage with a band. People misunderstand Dan to just be a DJ, but he genuinely has a lot of instruments, which are all digital. Being up there with drums blasting out in one ear and a guitar amp in the other ear is not something that I’ve ever done on this scale. There should be a lot of energy and a bit of a chaotic approach.
Will you be doing some spoken word stuff as well or will it all be music-backed?
I might sling a spoken word piece in, but it’s still a bit undecided. The thing that me and Dan have discussed is that neither of us will be doing any le Sac vs. Pip stuff at our solo shows. That would just be weird. And vice versa, when me and Dan are gigging together, we won’t be doing any of the solo bits. They are very much their own beasts and you can’t really do Dan le Sac with a live band or vice versa. So there may be a few spoken pieces and we’re looking at reworking one or two tracks off of ‘No Commercial Breaks’ to see if that fits. We did a live run-through of the new record last week and it felt great, but it also felt very apparent that it’s a nine-track record [Laughs], so when you’ve got a bit of energy, that can fly past really quickly. We’re looking at where we’re going to add bits and tweak bits.
‘Distraction Pieces’ by Scroobius Pip is out on 19th September through his own Speech Development Records.
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You mentioned a bit about exploring your punk influences on the album. To what depth do you go into that? 
